Highlights

Black Sky ChantsI’ll Sleep Until I See The Moon [album stream]

Russian minimalist Sergei Dmitriev is used to playing Sandman and putting our asses to bed. Previously known as Bedroom Bear, Dmitriev layered gentle loops upon gentle loops, creating music that could serve as a splendid soundtrack to anyone’s sleepytime. Recording now under the slightly less cuddly moniker Black Sky Chants, Dmitriev sculpts just as dreamy sounds, veering just barely towards haunting visions and distant nightmares.

Representing the second cassette release from Belgian experimental label Aguirre Records, I’ll Sleep Until I See The Moon is a dream. From the Close Encounters of the Third Kind-esque spacey call-and-response melody on lead-off track “67 km of Capricorn” to the tangled guitar echoes of “Strobe Glide,” you’ll leave this record feeling like you just woke from a wondrous dream but can’t remember shit. Luckily you can just listen to it again.

“It’s Not Because of You”

Swedish doom-rockers Witchcraft are back with Legend, due September 21 on Nuclear Blast. “It’s Not Because of You” is a continuation of the band’s Sabbath-steeped strain of rock, with one major difference: the production. Unlike the band’s past efforts, which operated under a bare-bones, almost lo-fi aesthetic, the guitars here are downright glossy, with lead singer Magnus Pelander’s vocals much more prominent than before. It almost hinges on alternative rock — not any type of watered-down Killers-type stuff, mind you, but not far from the sound Baroness perfected on the excellent Yellow and Green. Acolytes of HEAVY music might roll their eyes, but at the end of the day, we can always use more great rock bands. Definitely a tantalizing taste of what’s to come.

MELT JAMS [EP stream]

There’s a new label in town/on the internet, and it’s called Pho King Tapes. The Edmonton, AB-based label has so far released two short-run cassettes, one being a reissue of Moons’ Discography Tape, the other being this particularly sensual release, MELT JAMS. The EP, written by Seattle artists Aubrey Mangrum (a.k.a. Brugele) and Reice Humenik as O L D M O M S, features seven exquisite R&B cuts, ranging from the synth-heavy (“ROUGH TONGUES”) to the trippy (“MEMORY FOG”) to the appropriating sort (“ICING”) to the downright sublime (“SOME PLACE ELSE”). Hat tip to All, Everyone, United. Listen here:

“Escape Pod”

It’d be easy to draw comparisons between Seattle’s Kid Smpl and Burial, and all of those comparisons would likely be valid. But while Burial tends to be praised for soundtracking dark cityscapes, “Escape Pod,” the new one from Kid Smpl, feels much more lost-at-sea than walking-home-in-the-city. The only sounds are the captain’s laments carried out over a dark ocean, touched by rain and scattered with debris from sunken ships lightly tapping against the boat. No resolution but the melancholy carried outward toward the horizon on black ripples of freezing waters. Chilling.

Chinese Hercules [preview]

Stop-stop-stop. What’s today? [Whatever]day? Bolo Yeung (NOTT) choppin’ dem GAT-DAMN beats. Do yourself a favor: if you’re on the LIE and hear the Dat Piff release of 10 Minutes Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. No poke, can’t be more flagrant: snag it noWWW! Don’t care if you at work. I hope it give your CPU viruses. And, yes — SLF TAPES are fresshing Bolo Yeung’s new Chinese Hercules… it’s all you need the rest of this year. Shit, this two-minute preview is probably the whole album.

Loop each track 20 times. Look, put it on shuffle with whatever else you like from 2012 and tell me you skipped a Bolo Yeung track. You can’t. Unless you add that Onra tape Words+Dreams put out earlier this year (SOLD OUTT) #butpossiblecontestant. You can also tell me you took it off shuffle and put Bolo Yeung on repeat. Also-also, I understand this is it right now. But it;;s fucking swelling. Y;;o. There’s still a good scene in mixtapes @LilB @JuicyJ @KoolKeith @TrapAHolics @FatTony&Tom Cruz. S’ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Chinese Hercules. SLF TAPES. bl’owbl’owbl’owbl’ow

“Palace Pavillion”

Like The Quietus, we’ve been getting emails too from Denna Glass (♥), the superstar celebrity, media-whore representative of Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland. Last time we got one, we were treated to “Flaxen,” a harp-laden track from Dean Blunt’s forthcoming The Narcissist III mixtape, a follow-up to part II. This time, we were pointed to a short little number called “Palace Pavillion,” which sees Blunt — eyes closed, chin pointed toward the sky, biting lower lip — playing piano, overdubbed with Blunt — eyes wide open, slight grimace on face, swaying ominously — on drums and horns. Listen here: